Weight Loss

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October 23, 2010

Yum Yum

Posted by japaist under Food, Healthful, Recipes, Rome, Weight Gain, Weight Loss | Tags: , , , , |
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So, before heading to Oregon — and just a few days after my return from Italy, I was sitting in my NYC apartment – okay still sulking a little bit about American versus Italian food.  A sulk I should reconsider.  First, I’m in the States, so get over it, dammit!  But also – I realize, no have to admit – I also ate what I damn well pleased while there.  Giving lie to my statements that

I never gain weight when I go to Italy!

Except, when I got on the scale upon my return and found out that a week of Janet Eats – Italian style – netted an extra five pounds in avoirdupois.  Oh boy.  Not bummed, mind you.  It is temporary.  And, oh so fun.

I found a quick option to my quest to eat like a Roman – but also keep fit, like most Italians.  I have always said – and this truism is, well, true.

You will not gain weight in Italy, if you eat their food in the WAY they eat their food.  You don’t, for the most part, see them walking around eating food, eating lots of desserts, eating in between meals.  Their fornos are a selected treat.  Not, as I did when I lived there for three months, a place to visit every day.  I have been happy to be vacationing a lot lately.  But, it does make it more challenging to eat healthfully.

  1. Challenge:  Away from home.
  2. Challenge: The food that is available is different, sometimes COMPLETELY different from your everyday choices.  And
  3. Challenge: Who WANTS to eat with limits and care.  It’s vacation!

So, now I face the wonderful opportunity to renew my commitment to healthful eating.  Good choices.  Veggies when I want them.  Steamed with a little olive oil.  Not at all something you even want to eat while on vacation.

You know, you gotta live.  In a way that allows for some indulgences.  If you are challenged, as I am, to eat healthfully on a regular basis (and, even at that, my friends tell me I’m pretty damn good at that) – you need to not judge yourself.  Pick on yourself.  Feel badly about yourself.  Enjoy the food that you eat when you eat it.  If that means a temporary weight gain, then just “man up” and eat the way you know is both best – AND enjoyable – for you.

And, I think I’ll try that recipe I read about from another Word Press Blogger, Iowa Girl Eats:

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

 

March 17, 2010

The Last Ten Pounds

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Lose Weight, Weight Loss | Tags: , , |
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One of my best friends implored me: “write about those last ten pounds!”  If somebody could just solve that, weight loss would be so much more successful.

I have been struggling with that assignment since that evening – over a delicious Italian meal, by the way.  Such a great question!  It is at the core of the diet challenge.

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February 27, 2010

Write It Down

Posted by japaist under Lose Weight, Weight Loss | Tags: , , , |
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It is well-known in the weight loss world that one of the best things you can do is keep a food diary.  As a writer, I understand all too well, the power of pen on paper.  Something profound happens with that direct link between the brain and the ink.  I’m sure there is some science behind it.

Writing down what you eat keeps you on track.  Even if you are not ready to start changing the way you eat, start tracking.  When you eat it, write it down.  Some recommend you write the time, place, and what you were feeling.  That’s a fine idea.  But, if you are diet daunted, keep it simple.

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February 11, 2010

So, What’s the Deal?

Posted by japaist under Lose Weight, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , , , , , |
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You might wonder why I chose to write about pigging out in my last blog Janet Eats.  Too Much.

It just struck me that to stay true to my “mission” here on JanetEats, my ‘how I lost 50 pounds’ – I need to be open to all the nuances and challenges of that task.  It would be important to share the whole experience, not just the heady “whoo-hoo look-at-me I’m-losing-weight experience.  And, this blog is not just about losing weight through Weight Watchers, though it is clear that I swear by that program.  Why?  Simple.  It’s the “less in, more out” school of eating that leads to successful weight loss.  Weight University, I often call it.  It is a good time to learn whaddup with the overeating experience.

We do have our ups and downs.  We’ve seen that dramatically with Oprah.

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January 22, 2010

Out of Your Comfort Zone

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Weight Loss | Tags: , , , , |
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Roman homeless dude

When you’re trying to readjust your eating habits, think hard about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.  Too often, I have seen people who go on a DIET eat the very same thing for pretty much every meal.  I’ve done it myself.  Hell, I DO it myself.  It seems so much easier when you know the POINTS® or calories or carb count (pick your poison) of what you’re eating.

Grilled chicken on mixed greens with oil and vinegar, or diet (ick!) Italian dressing.  It gets old.  The idea of eating like that for the rest of your life becomes depressing, and, bingo, you’re back to your bad eating habits again.

Can’t say this enough:  you are learning to eat for the rest of your life!  Toss out the diet, dammit!

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January 9, 2010

The Angels and Weight Loss

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Weight Loss | Tags: , , |
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Pont Sant'Angelo

Bridge of Angels, Roma

There are many tools we can use on our weight loss journey.  I don’t think any of us should overlook the power of the Divine.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching here.  Nor, proselytizing.  I’m just adding another layer to our shared challenge: to lose weight.  To keep it off!

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January 2, 2010

I Can’t Believe I Ate that Whole Thing!

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , , , , |
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gluttonySo you made that resolution and the first day of your DIET – January 1st, year 2010 (010110) went swimmingly.  The resolve of the resolution was strong.

Next day, or make that next night, Saturday night, you’re wondering “what the heck was I thinking?”  And, then reality bites.  You get hit with the NIGHT MUNCHIES!!

There are many theories of how to deal with that time at night, when you’ve pretty much eaten what you’ve determined would be a reasonable amount of food.  Yet, you really want to eat that (fill in the blank).

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December 31, 2009

The Last Supper

Posted by japaist under Lose Weight, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , , , |
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There is this thing we dieters do in the evening, or even the days, before we start our DIET.  We eat that last supper of everything we’re convinced we are not going to eat, or do not think we will be able to eat while on the diet.  (Read more on my thoughts about being ON a diet in entry called To All A Goodnight).

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December 30, 2009

If You Must

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Lose Weight, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , , |
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If you just can’t help yourself and simply feel you must make a resolution to lose weight this next year, here are some quick tips from Weight Watchers®

1. Make your resolutions public
Share them with one or more people so they can help you stay on track. If you let your friends and family in on your dream, you can use their support to help you make it a reality.

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December 26, 2009

Ah, Nuts!

Posted by japaist under Atkins Diet, Low Carb Diet, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , , , |
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A Handful of Almonds

One Serving of Almonds

Singing the praise of the humble almond!  Even if it isn’t really a nut, but the pit of an almond fruit.

I will certainly write more details and minutia of how I lost my 50 pounds.  It is the theme of Janet Eats, after all.   Nuts, the almond in particular, played a very important role in my weight-loss journey.  Bottom line: I started to lose weight because I cut my carbs.  We’re not talking the Atkins Diet here.

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December 25, 2009

To All A Good Night!

Posted by japaist under Healthful, Lose Weight, Weight Loss | Tags: , , |
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*MERRY CHRISTMAS *

These can be trying times for people trying to live healthful lives.  Notice, I don’t say for dieters.  In that the way we eat is our diet, yes, we are all dieters.  Please do not regard weight loss and living healthfully as a time to deprive yourself.  It is well-known, in the science of weight loss, that sacrifice can be your biggest enemy in this journey.

If you consider yourself ON a diet, then once you hit your weight goal, you will likely go OFF the diet. And, yes, gain the weight back.  Plus some!

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December 24, 2009

My First Entry

Posted by japaist under Fifty Pounds, Lose Weight, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers | Tags: , |
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As you get closer to the New Year, you probably know the number one resolution people make:  Lose Weight.   Just google top New Years resolutions and you’ll find all kinds of advice on how to reach your goals.  Like this one from someone who calls himself Goals Guy.

Physical activity builds physical vitality. With every year of your life, you have more to gain from being physically active; as your age-related risks of chronic disease increase, regular exercise generally slows or reverses that trend.

In fact, you’re even more likely to notice the benefits of regular exercise if you already have a chronic condition.

Are you ever going to be fit again as long as you live? The answer is unless you make a resolution to get fit – you’re never going to be fit – ever. The choice is yours; it begins by opting for the stairs instead of the elevator, fruit in place of chocolate, and active rather than sedentary activities.

Wow, doesn’t that sound simple.  Reads simple enough.  But like so much in our lives, it is a proved thing: simple is always complicated.  I mean, really – do you want to spend the rest of your life picking fruit instead of chocolate?

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